Winter Care of Indoor Plants

As the sun gets lower in the winter sky and days become shorter, less and less natural light reaches indoor plants. We also have more cloudy days in winter, which further reduces natural daylight. To compensate for lower light conditions you can move plants closer to windows, and make sure that curtains are open during daylight.

South facing windows have the highest light conditions. East and west windows are next. North facing windows get no direct sunlight, but still provide indirect light which is brighter than locations some distance from windows.

Even low light requiring plants such as Dracaena, Chinese evergreen, and Peace Lily can be placed directly in south facing windows from now until early March. However, medium and high light requiring plants should get preference if space is limited. Use east, west, or north facing windows, when necessary, for lower light plants. African Violets thrive in north windows year round.

Plant leaves naturally turn toward the light. Plants grow lop-sided if they are not turned periodically, especially when growing in windows. Rotate plant ¼ turn once each week. If you want some plants further from windows for decorative purposes, trade them with other plants closer to windows so they get some bright light during the month.

If you are not sure of the relative light needs of your indoor plants, buy or borrow a book on indoor plants from the library. Most books have pictures so you can compare them with your plants even if you do not remember the plant names. In most cases, you are better off with low light requiring plants. Maybe it is time to replace some of your struggling high light plants with those which require less light.

Allen Wilson

Allen has been writing about gardening for over 30 years. He is a retired professor of Horticulture. Additional gardening information is available on his web site: naturalpruningnw.com under "how to guide". A monthly email garden newsletter can also be signed up for on this site or by sending a request to allenw98663@yahoo.com.